Owing to its solubility compared to graphene, graphene oxide (GO)
has become
popular in recent years as a potentially scalable precursor to
graphene in
devices. After the GO's oxidation and defects are chemically and
thermally
removed, reduced and annealed graphene oxide (raGO) remains. Using
aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy, we examine
both GO
and raGO with single-atom resolution. The GO appears heavily
oxidized and
disordered, but interestingly many isolated graphitic regions
persist.
Observation of the raGO shows that while reduction is nearly
complete, the
process causes significant damage to the sheet, making it
structurally
unstable and electronically disordered.

*Support provided by U.S. Department of Energy under contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2010.MAR.D22.1